What You Need to Know about The Unexplainable Store

The Unexplainable Store is a commercial offshoot of a website aimed at paranormal interests such as ESP, past-life regression, UFOs, and the like. Does that mean it is only for people interested in the paranormal? Absolutely not! The Unexplainable Store started out by offering a range of very-cleverly engineered, high-quality brainwave entrainment MP3s and CDs, utilizing solid scientific principles to deliver some exciting real-world benefits to users. Many enthusiastic testimonials back this up. But you should also be aware that some of the Store’s latest developments are taking it away from these sound fundamentals into less-proven, more speculative territory. You are free to go there if you wish, but we need to be realistic about what works and what doesn’t.

Most Unexplainable Store “reviews” are thinly-veiled sales pitches. From what we have seen on the web, this is the only site that is willing to be truly critical when warranted. As you shall see, we pull no punches here. We want you to be happy with your purchases so you will continue to rely on us for advice in the future.

The Good

The best products offered by The Unexplainable Store remain some of their original brainwave entrainment recordings. (If you are not familiar with the various states of human consciousness, please read our brainwave entrainment page or our many meditation articles.) A recent doubling of the product line-up added some recordings that target unexpected objectives, which we will discuss later, but it is the older recordings that have the most merit.

Some of our favorites include the health recordings entraining Delta waves to improve sleep patterns, boost the immune system, reinforce cellular repair, and stimulate DNA regeneration. When so many people in our frenetic modern world don’t get enough sleep, inducing a Delta state makes a great deal of sense (provided it is done in safe conditions that won’t impair waking functioning).

Similarly, the recordings targeting Alpha and Theta waves for relaxation, meditation, creativity, and memory enhancement are all effective and well-supported by scientific studies. We are on solid ground here; these MP3s and CDs can be purchased and used with confidence.

For those with more adventurous tastes, the esoteric recordings for lucid dreaming, astral projection, and Shaman consciousness all receive encouraging reviews from regular users. (One video review from a pretty British girl with a retainer is very sweet and heartfelt. Love it!) These may not be for everybody, but if you’re into this kind of thing, you want to stick with professionally-engineered recordings that entrain exactly the right frequencies; in this respect, Jim McElwee, owner of The Unexplainable Store, is unusually – even obsessively – precise. In the box below, we feature just a few of the many positive reviews from actual users:

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Other good points worth noting are the 60-day guarantee on all products, the wide range of entrainment methods (binaural beats, monaural beats, and isochronic tones), sensible pricing, decent-length free samples, and regular tips on how to use the recordings for e-mail subscribers.

The Bad

As discussed on our Meditation MP3 Review home page, Jim has always been on the cutting edge of the entrainment world. Perhaps it was inevitable that, after a while, he would go too far. There has always been a certain tension between science and superstition in the Store’s approach – a strange marriage between verifiable neuroacoustic research and New Age fringe pursuits. For most professional scientists (though not necessarily the ones in this field, like Dr. Jeffrey Thompson) that tension is simply untenable. And it becomes even harder to live with when science is invoked in a highly questionable way.

Some of the newer recordings are problematic in this regard. For example, who would think of listening to a meditation MP3 to cure acne, combat male-pattern baldness, boost female fertility, or enhance sexual pleasure? In the acne case, it is alleged that listening to Alpha waves will lessen the body’s production of the stress-hormone cortisol, which can contribute to skin problems. For hair loss, it is said that Delta waves will encourage the pituitary gland to release growth hormones to help with hair restoration. Our distant memories of the hormone-hell that is adolescence, and current experience with aging, tell us there’s more than a little wishful thinking going on here. The connection between cause and effect is getting s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d too far for us. Similarly, the pregnancy recording makes vague promises about general well-being from a “gentle Delta wave,” but ventures nothing specific. And the sexual products are described in equally flaccid (sorry – couldn’t resist) terms completely lacking in hard (again – sorry) evidence.

All joking aside, this isn’t funny. There are desperate, unhappy people out there who will spend money on anything that promises to solve their problems. But there has to be more than just a promise. We could say that these products aren’t going to do any harm – that they may have a slight impact on overall health by relaxing us – but even that might be too generous a statement. For there is actual harm in persuading people to do things that won’t work. If he keeps going down this road, Jim risks being considered a quack. And that would be a real shame, because then consumers won’t pay any attention to the genuinely useful products that do work.

Of course, the Store’s Terms of Service explicitly state that products are for “novelty purposes only” and “should not be purchased or used for any medical application.” Their product descriptions are merely “opinion” and offer “no guarantee on progressions.” In other words, caveat emptor.

Finally, we can not end this section without at least a passing swipe at the subject of an earlier post, the recently launched manifestation visualization video. This blatantly commercial creation represents yet another step away from legitimate entrainment tools in favor of useless gimmicks that waste people’s time and money. Worse still, this “easy button” discourages people from doing the vital internal work – like examining their long-held belief systems – that could place them in a position of genuine control over themselves and their lives.

The Ugly

O.K., so what could be worse than all of that? Well, the tension we discussed above between science and the paranormal has exploded in The Unexplainable Store’s latest marketing focus – the year 2012. Yes, it’s The Rapture all over again. Notwithstanding the deranged ravings of Harold Camping to the effect that the world was coming to an end on May 21, 2011 (or, as he now says, Oct. 21), The Unexplainable Store has been sending e-mails warning of something big happening in 2012. We don’t know exactly what, you understand, but something big. Apparently, all the major religions see it coming.

Give us a break, Jim. We’re not even going to bother writing about why this is ridiculous. What concerns us is that the credibility of The Unexplainable Store is being flushed down the toilet with these stupid claims that are sure to fall flat. Why on earth would you want to do that to your business? How can you continue to sell your entrainment products on supposedly scientific grounds and simultaneously spout this poppycock? You can’t. So don’t!

Recommendations

The Unexplainable Store is a bizarre mix of self-improvement gold with speculative muck. Our recommendation is to buy and use the products that have the most convincing body of scientific research behind them, and to experiment with esoterica if you wish. Be guided by the reviews of actual users, of which many are posted on the Store’s website. But always remember that, as with any self-improvement tool, the onus remains on you to improve your life. Brainwave entrainment recordings are powerful tools, but once you have reached a given state of mind you have to decide what you’re going to do there. No recording can do all the work for you.